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Location

Keauhou, North Kona

Client

Kamehameha Schools

HHF Planners (HHF) is developing a Cultural Landscape Assessment for Kamehameha Schools’ lands along Keauhou Bay on Hawai‘i’s North Kona coast. The small bay is well-known as the birth site of Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III, a former king of Hawai‘i significant for his lineage and for his support in governance and education of the Hawaiian people during the early 19th century. In 1914, the Daughters of Hawai‘i coordinated a commemorative event for the 100th birthday of Kauikeaouli with a memorial plaque placed upon his birth place. Today, people from all over Hawai‘i and beyond continue to travel to Keauhou to pay homage to the king.

In support of Kamehameha Schools’ management assessment of its lands along Keauhou Bay, HHF offered a unique approach to interpreting the bay’s cultural landscapes. By combining methodologies specified by the National Park Service for recording and analyzing cultural landscapes and indigenous cultural landscapes, HHF Planners provided an analysis highlighting landscape features that contribute to the historic character of the bay. A follow-up treatment plan, to be prepared by HHF, will define guidelines and strategies that Kamehameha Schools can utilize to protect and enhance the historic character of the bay as they implement their management plan.